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Editions of Randolph Caldecott's works
Picture Books
When Randolph's "Picture Books" were first published, no dates of
publication were included. It therefore requires some detective work to
deduce the publication date of early editions.
What to look for
 | The Earliest editions were all published by George Routledge &
Sons.
|
| The back covers were used by the publisher to advertise other
books. Clearly, they could not advertise books which did not yet
exist! So, for example, first editions of the first two Picture Books
had adverts for similar titles by other authors or illustrators.
| Date |
Titles |
P/L |
Back Cover |
| 1878 |
John Gilpin
The House that Jack Built |
P
P |
|
| 1879 |
The Babes in the Wood
The Mad Dog
(Caldecott's books still occupy less than 12% of
the
space on this back-cover advert. Incidentally,
although the colours of the Routledge editions are
better than those of the Warne ones, the back covers
were sometimes printed at a slight angle and the
registration of all 6 colours was not always exact.) |
P
P
|
|
| 1880 |
Sing a Song for Sixpence
The Three Jovial Huntsmen
(Note the pale blue colour of the
front & back covers of the latter
in the Routledge edition) |
P
P
|
|
| 1881 |
The Queen of Hearts
The Farmer's Boy |
P
P |
|
| 1882 |
The Milkmaid
Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting |
L
L |
 |
| 1883 |
A Frog he would a-Wooing Go
The Fox jumps over the Parson's Gate
(Note the addition of Postal District to
address at bottom of page)
(photo: Robin Castle) |
L
L
|
 |
| 1884 |
Come Lasses and Lads
Ride a Cock Horse and A Farmer went Trotting |
L
L |
 |
| 1885 |
The Great Panjandrum Himself
Mrs Mary Blaize |
L
L |
 |
|
~1895?
onwards |
Early Warne editions |
|
|
|
1917
onwards |
Later Warne editions
(Click picture to view larger version, and note
the
"LTD." added after "Frederick Warne &
Co..."
at bottom centre.)
This same back was used on both Portrait and
Landscape book formats, by printing it on its side on
the Landscape ones. |
|
|
|
1988 |
New Orchard Editions reprint
of five of the Picture Books |
L |
 |
The "P/L" column above indicates "Portrait" or
"Landscape" format of each book: see "Sizes" below.
|
| In about 1900, the publishers Routledge sold their interests in children's
books, with all the colour plates, to Frederick Warne &
Co, who continued to publish the books but who replaced the Routledge
name on the front covers with their own. At about the same time,
the "price one shilling" was quietly dropped to allow for
price increases. As we have mentioned elsewhere, Warne's editions did
not use quite the same six colours as the originals, and lack the subtle
quality which Caldecott in his lifetime had achieved with the help of Edmund
Evans the engraver and the original publishers. On the other hand, the
soft covers of the Routledge editions are easily damaged and on many
surviving copies have fallen off the books; Warnes replaced these with a
stiffer cover and more durable binding.
|
| Frederick Warne eventually handed his company over to his sons. One
became engaged to one of their promising authors, Beatrix
Potter - but died before they could get married. The son who then
took over, embezzled money from the company, but was found out, convicted
and imprisoned in April 1917. (For more details, see our "Beatrix Potter" page.) Thereafter, the
publisher became a Limited Company, and their name was changed to Frederick Warne & Co Ltd. So any
editions bearing this name plus Ltd. on the cover were published after this date.
|
| At the bottom of the back cover, in small print, the books are marked
"Printed and Copyrighted by Edmund Evans ...". But the
details of this vary too. On the 1878-1882 Routledge editions, the
precise wording is
"EDMUND EVANS, ENGRAVER AND PRINTER, RACQUET COURT,
FLEET STREET";
from 1883, the Postal District is added:
"EDMUND EVANS, ENGRAVER AND PRINTER, RACQUET COURT,
FLEET STREET, E.C."
From 1906 or earlier until 1913, Edmund Evans' premises moved, and
this line changed to
"PRINTED AND COPYRIGHTED BY EDMUND EVANS LTD., THE RACQUET COURT PRESS,
LONDON, S.E."
On a Warne edition between 1914 and 1917, this has become
"PRINTED AND COPYRIGHTED BY EDMUND EVANS LTD., ROSE PLACE, GLOBE ROAD,
LONDON, E."
After Warnes became "Ltd." in 1917, the Postal District was
further refined:
"PRINTED AND COPYRIGHTED BY EDMUND EVANS LTD., ROSE
PLACE, GLOBE ROAD, LONDON, E.1."
Some time after 1940 (when exactly?), Edmund Evans Ltd. moved
again, and the address line changed to:
"ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY EDMUND EVANS, LTD., 154
CLERKENWELL ROAD, LONDON, E.C.1."
Later still (1950 or earlier), it changed further to
"PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. COPYRIGHT EDMUND EVANS
LTD., LONDON"
(Sources of above info: the wordings (except from 1906-1913) have
been observed on actual books; the dates of Edmund Evans' addresses between
1906 and 1940 have been verified from Post Office London Street Directories
held at the Guildhall Library, London.)
|
|  Relatively recently, some Picture
Books were re-issued in a new edition in the USA, by Avenel Books,
a division of Crown Publishers, Inc., 419 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10016.
The front cover of an example (The Queen of Hearts and Sing a Song
for Sixpence, in one volume) is shown here (we are
grateful to Brenda Manter for this picture).
Another edition was produced by Viking Press (Warne Classics Series) in 1986.
| We know of |
|
ASIN |
| "First Caldecott Collection: |
The House that Jack Built and
A Frog he would a'Wooing Go" |
0-72323-432-9 |
| "Second Caldecott Collection: |
Sing a Song for Sixpence and
The
Three Jovial Huntsmen" |
0-72323-433-7 |
| "Third Caldecott Collection: |
The Queen of Hearts and
The Farmer's Boy" |
0-72323-434-5 |
|
| In 1988, shortly after the Centenary of Randolph's death, five of the
later Picture Books were re-issued as "New Orchard Classics",
priced GB£4.95, by New Orchard Editions, Link House, West Street, Poole,
Dorset UK. By this time, books had International Standard Book
Numbers, and these books were:
| Title |
ISBN |
| A Frog he would a'Wooing Go |
1-85079-127-9 |
| Come Lasses and Lads |
1-85079-110-4 |
|
Ride a Cock Horse and A Farmer went Trotting |
1-85079-125-2 |
|
The Fox jumps over the Parson's Gate |
1-85079-126-0 |
|
Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting |
1-85079-1??-? |
|
| In 1994, books each containing two of the Picture Books were published in
the UK by
Robert Frederick Ltd., Downwood, Claverton Road, Bath BA2 6DT. (Height
20 cm x width 17.5 cm.) The colour reproduction is good, more like the
original editions than the Warne reprints. The layout saves on pages
by putting 2 or 3 of the monochrome pictures on each page of text. However,
the illustrations are said to be by "Ralph" Caldecott instead of
Randolph! We have written to the Publishers to protest. The two
titles we have seen are:
| Title |
ISBN
|
# pages |
| The House that Jack Built and The Farmer's Boy |
1-85081-210-1 |
42 |
| John Gilpin and The Queen of Hearts |
1-85081-211-X |
42 |
|
In the 21st Century, a complete facsimile reprint of all of Randolph's Pictures
Books (in English) has been produced as a boxed set in Japan, together with an
introductory volume (in Japanese) with text by Dr. Brian Alderson.
|
| Another recent edition in USA is a facsimile of the Routledge version of Sing
a Song for Sixpence (30 pp., size 23 cm), published by Huntington
Library Press, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108 Phone: 626.405.2172
Fax: 626.585.0794 price US$2.95. The publishers are (at 6/2004)
considering producing similar reproductions of 5 more of Randolph's Picture
Books.
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|
Sizes; Miniature editions
The standard editions of all 16 of the Picture Books were all about the same
size: 9 x 8¼ inches (23 x 21 cm). However, some of the titles had the
longer dimension as the height ("Portrait" format), while others had it as their
width ("Landscape" format).
 From
1906/7 (source: British Library), miniature editions of all
16 of the Books were also
produced: these are about 53/8 x 49/16
inches (13.7 x 11.7 cm). Apart from their reduced size, these are identical to
the original Routledge editions, even including "One Shilling" as
their price, except for the back cover which is totally different. But the page-edges are gold-blocked, and they are stitched
with a coloured ribbon (which has usually perished and had to be replaced by
now): would they have actually been sold for as
little as one shilling? (Our picture is from the back of
"The Mad Dog".)
| Can anyone tell us: for how many years were these miniatures produced?
|
 
Miniature editions of the four combined volumes were also produced by
Warnes: these, like the individual miniature books, are 53/8 x 49/16
inches (13.7 x 11.7 cm), but have hard covers. These were still undated (but we have seen a copy which, from
the inscription inside, was given as a Christmas present in 1948).
[Our thanks to Peter of www.nuthillproductions.org for the photo of Picture Book
No. 3.]
Strangely, the combinations were not quite the same as the original
large-format groups-of-four-in-one-vol, eg:
| Title |
Format |
Contents |
Sample Back |
R. Caldecott's
Picture Book No. 2
(only 3 titles included, not 4) |
P |
The House that Jack Built
Sing a Song for Sixpence
The Queen of Hearts |
(This picture is only
31/8 x 13/8 inches in
size
on the books.)
|
R. Caldecott's
Picture Book No. 3 |
L |
Hey Diddle Diddle & Baby Bunting
Ride a Cock Horse
The Milkmaid
A Frog he would a'Wooing Go |
R. Caldecott's
Picture Book No. 4 |
L |
Come Lasses and Lads
The Fox jumps over the Parson's Gate
Mrs Mary Blaize
The Great Panjandrum Himself |
 Right:
Dust-jacket of a Warne re-print of Picture Book No. 2, Octavo size. (This edition contains
Sing a Song for Sixpence,
The Queen of Hearts, The Three Jovial Huntsmen and The
Farmer's Boy. Our thanks to www.FaganBooks.com for providing this picture.)
Ultra-miniature
In recent years, an ultra-miniature edition of "Come Lasses and Lads" has
appeared, for use in dolls' houses!
Other books
For information on editions of Henry Blackburn's biography of Randolph
Caldecott, click  
            
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"Caldecott" included in the "Subject" line of your message.
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